The West Zone of Bangladesh Railway has adopted additional security and cautionary measures to carry the home-bound passengers ahead of the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.“We are taking all-out preparations to transport the passengers and to make their journey safe and hassle-free,” said Engineer Khairul Alam, General Manager of the Zone, while talking to BSS here on Thursday. There will have extra cautionary measures to avert any accident on all the routes.Members of Railway Security Force and General Railway Police will work together in maintaining security in the station areas round the clock, he added.The zone, headquartered in Rajshahi, will operate two-pair special trains on Dhaka Parbatipur-Dhaka and Dhaka-Khulna-Dhaka routes on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. This special train service will begin three days ahead of Eid and continue till five to seven days after the festival.Besides, additional one or two coaches will be added to the other trains specially the intercity ones running between Dhaka and Rajshahi from before seven days of the Eid-day, he said. He said selling of advanced ticket for the inter-city trains launched today and added that strict measures were taken to make the activities of advanced ticket selling free from all sort of black-marketing and other irregularities.The GM said that the zone has been operating 110 trains, including 36 inter- city and 26 express trains, on different routes under Paksey and Lalmonirhat divisions also connecting the capital Dhaka.The zone, covering Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna divisions, has been operating 141 trains including 50 intercity ones on different routes including the capital Dhaka at present. Eight commuters or shuttle trains are being operated on various short-distance routes which are very popular among the passengers.In this context, he said five inter-city trains are at present running between Dhaka and different parts of the zone like Dinajpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Khulna and Rajshahi.He said the law enforcing agencies including RAB were informed to take necessary step for addressing any sort of unfair means and extortion during the pre and post railway Eid-journey.We are committed to provide safe, reliable, cost-effective and time efficient rail transport service everywhere in the zone through modernizing, expanding and maintaining rail system in a manner which supports government strategies for economic, social and environmental development, Engineer Alam asserted. –BSS, Rajshahi